Fleetwood Mac’s Secret Weapon Strikes Again on “You Make Loving Fun”
One of the well-documented wonders of Fleetwood Mac’s seminal album Rumours is how all the members of the band managed to devote themselves to making the best music they possibly could whilst simultaneously ripping each other apart emotionally. Some of the songs on the album understandably have bitter, heartbroken, or regret-laden lyrical content. But one […]
“So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” is Simon and Garfunkel’s Break-up Song
On what turned out to be their last album together, Simon and Garfunkel created what some regard as a masterpiece. The album contains some iconic songs, not least the title track, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Some of these are lodged in my marrow, songs that feel like I’ve known them forever that recall distant times, […]
“The Last Great American Dynasty” is Taylor Swift’s Mirror, Confession, and Best Song
Like the rest of the world, I exclaimed “There she is!” every time the camera cut to Taylor Swift during Super Bowl LVIII. Some of us said it angrily, peeved that we can’t even watch professional sports without her showing up like an IRS agent to ruin the fun. Some of us said it with […]
Radiohead Bring the Strings and Paranoia with “Burn The Witch”
Radiohead are good at (and renowned for) upending people’s expectations. So their lead single from 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool was what we might call an expected surprise. Radiohead are sometimes described as alt rock or indie rock. There’s often guitars somewhere, and whilst this album has that feel, the first song everyone heard […]
The Best Songs of 2023 (that You Probably Missed)
This is a tad late, I know. We’re a few weeks into the new year, enough time to make it feel like 2023 was a different time during which you were a different person. You went to the gym less and spent more time on social media back then. You meditate now, and take ice […]
Is “Wherever You Are” Neil Finn’s most romantic song?
In 1996, a TV advert ran with the tagline, “you know more Crowded House songs than you think you do.” It was clever, but also true. The inherent catchiness in Neil Finn’s songwriting paired with lyrics that sit on a knife’s edge between reality and dreams ensure that his songs, once in your brain, are […]
Billie Holiday Cuts to the Core on “Strange Fruit”
Autumn, 1937. Harvard graduate, now high school English teacher Abel Meeropol submits his newest poetic offering to local Union publication The New York Teacher in a bold and unapologetic attempt to shine a light southward and into the face of the ongoing atrocities that seem to stick like burweed into the fabric of Southern culture. […]
The The get “Infected” with a Sweet Disease
In 1989 English band The The released Mind Bomb, a luscious album that capitalised on everything its predecessor had promised. It’s a quiet masterpiece that still holds very strong today and is one of my favourite albums of all time. But the previous 1986 album was where I discovered this passionate, unique band. I was […]
Retrospective: Blaze Foley’s Last Show “Live at the Austin Outhouse”
The first thing I regret about writing a Blaze Foley retrospective is that it is, by nature, retroactive—that is, that I am yet another in a long string of fans, reviewers, and artists who have come to know and appreciate his talent when it is far, far too late. No amount of good things I […]
Sinead O’Connor’s “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance”
This is the last day of our acquaintanceI will meet you later in somebody’s office The opening lyrics to Sinead O’Connor’s “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance” enter briskly, as a cold autumn wind through a poorly-sealed window frame. Clinical, mechanical, and void of all but exhaustion, O’Connor aptly reflects and envelopes all the emotion […]
